Elliston Ridge, NF

I was the maintenance officer for the 2029th AACS Squadron located at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota - about 10-12 miles NE of Rapid City, South Dakota when I received orders to proceed to Northeast Air Command (NEAC).

I airlifted from McGuire AFB, NJ, via USAF DC-6 (backward positioned seats) to Goose Bay, Labrador. I left Goose Bay and Cartwright the end of October, 1956 and I was sent from Cartwright to Pepperell AFB and then on to Elliston Ridge the end of Nov. 1956. I was originally on orders to take over the site at Cutthroat Island so I was initially airlifted to Cartwright, Labrador via the shaky H-21 twin rotor helicopter. I stayed there one or two days and was picked up by the crew of an SA-16 and flown to Pepperell AFB to attend the fire prevention program. This was mandatory for all site commanders. While at Pepperell AFB my orders were changed from Cutthroat Island to Elliston Ridge, Newfoundlan. At the time I did not know how fortunate I was. Capt. Bill Martin was ordered to Cutthroat instead. Bill was a fine officer and we spent considerable time together at Pepperell prior to proceeding to our respective sites. He contacted me months later from Goose Bay I think and he had the misfortune to have the roof of his main building catch fire by one of the diesel exhaust stacks. This could happen very easily if you didn’t keep the stacks free of carbon buildup. If that carbon caught you were in deep trouble. It burned like a blacksmith’s forge and was very difficult to extinguish. I am uncertain what happened at Cutthroat following this. I traveled to Elliston Ridge on the "Bullet." This was a CNR (Canadian National Railway) narrow gauge steam driven train. It took us over 24 hours to cover about 200 miles of track. Thus the name "Newfie Bullet." Never disparage the bullet to me however, it brought mail, replacement equipment, and reasonably fresh food. The payroll was usually brought in on the postal truck if the road was clear. Rarely so in the winter. The RCMP along with the postal authorities helped watch over it until I signed for it. Accompanying me on the bullet were the following as best I can recall: Jack Andoneades, Nishisake, Bill Wade, and Potter-Bendix reps, Walt Bergantz-Philco rep, for the life of me I cannot recall the names of the three RCA reps that also were along.

I arrived at Elliston Ridge as a 1st Lt at the end of November, 1956 as an an electronics officer-AFSC 3044.

The site construction upon my arrival was well along, but very cluttered, which was normal. Sgt Hooper and A/1C Anderson (USAF) were already there. Sgt. Hooper became my first Sgt. and in charge of the motor pool and all rolling stock. Anderson was a 30344-radar mechanic and was made responsible for safe arrival and temporary storage of all electronic equipment along with allied supporting material. The "disaster building" construction was complete and completely filled with everything from beds to radar equipment and everything in between. What the building could not hold was stacked outside. Fortunately all boxes were strongly constructed of wood and quite well marked. The main site building was about a month away from completion, the helicopter pad was usable but not completely finish graded, the upper and lower diesel fuel tanks in place and pumping lines between the tanks complete but protective dikes unfinished, the water well was complete but buried line to site incomplete, radar building and base for rotating antenna about a week from completion (we all assisted in completing that so all the tech reps could begin installing radar and comm equipment). They desperately wanted to complete their work to have a chance to be home by Christmas. A few made it but not all. It seems that we initially inflated the Goodyear rubber radome around the 20th of December 1956. This meant that we had the sweep antenna installed underneath it and at least one diesel had to be operational at all times to furnish electrical power for the air compressors. We sealed the bottom of the radome, watched it for a few days and then released the air to complete other installations. We reinflated the radome permanently sometime between the middle and end of January 1957. Hooper, Anderson, and myself moved into the main building at that time. Don Seickmeier, the permanent Bendix tech. rep on site also arrived then. The installation team members still remaining were, Potter of Bendix, Bergantz of Philco, and one member from RCA. Prior to moving into the site, I and all of the installation team members lived in the Bonavista hotel owned and operated by Clayton Hussey and his family. It has since burned (we were told in 1988). Hooper and Anderson had rooms someplace else in Bonavista. I do not remember where or with whom. Metcalf & Eddy from Boston were the architects represented by George Datio on site. Terminal Construction out of St. Johns, Gander, and Fortune Nfld. were the general contractors, with many trades and personnel on site. I traded work and the use of my D-6 Cat to them so Hooper, Anderson, and myself could eat in their mess hall free of charge. Bill Rengers (Holland Dutch from Canada) was the accountant for Terminal Construction. He was easy to work with making it possible to solve many mutual site problems. The civilian installation team members were being well paid so they had to pay wherever they took their meals except later when those remaining moved into the main building. I probably should have charged them but I didn’t. The Corps of Engineers based in NY were responsible for quality control, inspections, and meeting scheduled deadlines, as was I. 2nd Lt Ghouhan, Sanderson, and Roy Holman were on site for the Corps of E. Roy Holman stayed on to supervise the future tropospheric scatter communication system construction. Things came together quite rapidly the last two weeks of January, 1957.

After the arrival of the troop complement, my site manning was as follows: One officer, Lt Dale M Bunsen - Site Commander, 3 NCOs - Hooper - motor pool & 1st Sgt., Wersebe - cook & later 1st Sgt., & Graves - radio communications chief, 13 airmen - 1 cook A1C Sanders, 1 medic, A2C Wright, 1 motor pool, A/1C Sandling, 2 radar maintenance, A/1C Anderson & A/2C Nordstrom, 5 radar ops, A/1C Partyka, A/2C Steinbrugge, A/3C Proveaux, A/3C Stromberg, A/2C (lost a stripe) Switzer, 1 supply, A/1C Blunt, & 2 radio mechanics A/2C Bartosowicz & A/3C Fredricks. There were 6 civilians responsible for diesel operations, heating, electrical, plumbing, fuel transfer, refrigeration, and any allied activities supporting these. Dougald Duffett, & Rufus Baker were two of them. I cannot recall the rest. Cyrill Mifflin was the civilian in charge and responsible to me. Good men all, military and civilian.

First the site commander is responsible for carrying out the mission which was to observe and report any air traffic passing through our assigned envelop of three dimensional space. Equally his responsibilities included the protection, well-being, morale, and overall care of all assigned site personnel, authorized temporary duty personnel, and authorized visitors. We were guests in Canada which required that all assigned site personnel respect the permanent citizens in all respects. Honor their culture, traditions, and national ownership while constantly demonstrating pride and respect in the USAF which represents the United States of America. If anything breaks, fix it. KEEP THE SITE RUNNING! Never, ever allow an unwanted fire in or at the site to get started or continue. Fire prevention had to be practiced constantly. The buck stopped with the site commander. You best take your job and the welfare of the troops seriously.

We had a pool table, ping- pong table, a 16 mm movie projector, and lots of playing cards. There were also dart-boards and someone ordered a speed punching bag and mounted it in the motor pool. We also pitched horseshoes and threw the football, baseball, and softball around on the helicopter pad given the rare decent day. We also had a TV in the airmen’s club and my officers club. One channel from St. Johns could be viewed with average to below reception. I was also an licensed amateur radio operator at the time and was able to "phone patch" about everyone to their home in the USA except myself.

During off duty hours I often took that time to just informally walk around the building in the winter and around the outside of the site in good weather. Oftentimes it was easier to spot something in need of my attention then than during the duty day. I wrote letters, caught up on paperwork, worked the amateur band available on our BC 610 transmitter and Halicrafter SP 600 receiver, occasionally went into Bonavista or the other small coastal villages, visited with and worked to maintain good relations with the local RCMP — Corporal Jenkins, Constable Parker, and another Constable whose name I cannot recall. Frequently I would be invited into the homes local citizens, Dr Heath, Cyrill Mifflin, John Bradley, and Corporal Jenkins to name a few. The troops not assigned duty could go into Bonavista, weather permitting, in the 2 1/2 ton "shuttle truck". It left the site at 7:00 PM and returned in time to be "at the main building" at midnight. They did all the other things like I did as well. Some became quite proficient at pool and ping-pong. Whenever we received a new movie everyone watched. Airman Wright, the medic, was our projectionist. We actually built a curved cinemascope movie screen which worked quite well. Don Sieckmeier and I built a 14 foot boat while there and actually launched it in quiet water. We must have borrowed an outboard motor someplace. Except for a few leaks, it worked quite well. I would like to know what happened to it.

No one left the site on R&R. I had to make periodic trips to Pepperell AFB at St. Johns. I think I made two during the summer of 1957. I always took an airman along who could be spared. It took us all day to get there in either the weapons carrier or the 2 1/2 ton truck and a day to get back so I conducted business and picked up supplies quickly and returned. I had one radar operations conference at Harmon AFB (outside Stevenville, Nfld) for 2 days and took airman Partyka along. We always drove a truck of some kind to St. Johns so we could haul back supplies. That time we drove the weapons carrier again and Partyka received a bit of OJT driving it. It was not easy over those backwoods, coastline, Nfld roads. This was the end of March or first of April. I know the roads were snow covered, it was cold, and the flight from Torbay field in St. Johns to Harmon AFB was in marginal weather both ways. Of course, the weather was always marginal or worse. I kept track of the days that we had full sun. That is, we saw the sun rise, saw it all day, and saw it set. There were 20 of these during my stay there in 1956 and 1957. The rest of the time you are in the bottom of the high fog, the top of the low fog, it was snowing, sleeting, raining or all three plus the wind.

I would say that we handled 15-25 tracks a day excluding the air traffic into Gander and St. Johns. I did not hear of, or recall any unknowns or possible hostiles that weren’t subsequently identified and cleared.

The food was good considering, and it was well prepared by the cooks Wersebe and Sanders. We had good refrigeration, the "bullet" kept us resupplied at decent intervals with perishables and meat which could be frozen, and we had a good machine for mixing powdered milk and water. I began to enjoy that milk more than the carton type. We did get a bad shipment of frozen chickens one time. They were old and "buzzard tough." Coupled with appropriate bitching by the troops, which found the ear of the cooks, I instructed them very clearly that the remainder would be made into soup or garbage. The food service Sq. at Pepperell AFB was also enlightened in no uncertain terms. By and large, we ate quite well. We also built and had access to lobster traps and the great North Atlantic Ocean in which to catch them. Believe me, in April & May, we feasted on them. I can taste them with the hot, melted lemon butter to this day. You had to be careful of the pan ice while pulling the traps however, but it was fun and exciting. I give great credit to the "Newfie Bullet." Although it was slow and derailed frequently it was a great asset too us. The steam engine was replaced by a diesel while I was there. It went to someplace in Africa I heard. The locals were very proud of their new engine. Frankly, to me, it was sad to see it go. I was sorry to see that the "bullet" had been replaced by a hard-surfaced road around the island when we returned to Nfld. In 1988. May it rest in peace.

Mail delivery was quite good both in and out. Again, the "bullet" was a great asset and friend in this regard. Moreover, there was also a mail truck that met the "bullet" at Clarenville, Nfld which delivered mail and freight to the Bonavista peninsula, roads permitting.

Our involvement with the local civilians was both professional and social. Professionally we participated in their National holidays. i.e. I would select a representative set of troops, we would wear our dress uniforms, and march in their Dominion Day celebration. We would attend their churches, Anglican, United, and Catholic. We assisted whenever we could in ongoing projects in the local area. At that time each church seemed to have its own school for grades 1-8. Even the salvation army had its own school. The United church in Elliston was building a new school and the congregation was very proud of the commitment they had made. They each assessed themselves $.05/day, and the only person paid was the job foreman, who was a carpenter who had also worked on my site. We would take the 2 1/2 ton and the weapons carrier to the oceanfront close to Elliston and haul salt water sand to the building site where we then graded it with our D-6 cat. Now comes a good story. This church had a young, energetic pastor whose wife was pregnant. Prior to this school building project (in March 1957, I think) this pastor had walked all the way from Elliston and up the ridge road to the site in a pretty strong snowstorm. Moreover, it had been snowing for 2 days closing all the roads. As stated before, in my vehicle inventory, there was the "weasel." This was an amphibious, rubber-tracked vehicle that had a cab and would haul 4 if necessary. We used it mainly to haul trash and for emergencies. At that time I allowed only two people to operate it, Sgt. Hooper and I. A few days before the snowstorm, I had taken Sgt. Hooper to the small clinic in Bonavista run by my good friend, Dr. Heath. Hooper had a very inflamed, leaking appendix which would have ruptured completely in the next 24 hours had not Dr. Heath operated. It was quite serious really, we had no way or time to get Hooper to the hospital at Pepperell and the storm had begun. Hooper was one tough kid. He was in great pain before the surgery, and knew the risks. After I informed him about the weather, and the danger in waiting further he agreed to the surgery. Dr. Heath did a fine job, and although quite ill, Hooper was OK and stable. The following day, I took the weasel into Bonavista to see how Hooper was doing. He was weak but improving. The road from the site and the connecting road to Bonavista were both completely blocked and, although the storm was weakening, winds were still high and visibility very limited. I arrived back at the site in the dark, quite tired, and glad to there. It was quite demanding to drive the weasel, especially in deep, drifted snow. You had to approach all drifts straight on. There was no side traction with this vehicle. Thus, if you approach a drift at an angle you could very well slide sideways all the way to the bottom. To continue. I was in my office when the pastor arrived about 7:00 PM., more exhausted than I was. He was a personal friend and good man. He indicated that his wife was about to deliver their child and he was very afraid that with the storm, and the blocked roads, medical help could neither get to her nor could he get her to a doctor. He had heard that I had made it into Bonavista and back and would I consider taking he and his wife there? It was their first child. Airman Wright, our medic, had no experience in these matters so I told Sandling (motor pool) to refuel the weasel, Sgt. Wersebe to draw blankets, a shovel, flashlights, food, and water. Moreover to put on their artic gear as they were going along. Away we went. Going down the site road it was very apparent that it was going to be a rough ride for a pregnant lady. We arrived at the pastor’s house in Elliston where his wife was dressed warmly and waiting (she had great faith in her husband, smile-smile). She was placed in the rear seat with her husband on one side and Sgt. Wersebe on the other with blankets for padding. This helped stabilize her somewhat from any severe side-to-side movement. Airman Sandling was in front with me. The weasel had an adequate heater so keeping her warm was no problem. This second trip (that day) to Bonavista was actually a bit easier than the other. The weasel headlights illuminated my previous tracks in the snow, the wind had abated somewhat, and visibility was better. We made it OK, turned them over to Dr. Heath at his clinic, and got back to the site around 1:00 AM exhausted but pleased that we could help. The pastor’s wife did not deliver for a week-smile, smile. They were extremely grateful and always publicly expressed this.

My next orders directed me to the newly formed AC&W Squadron at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Fla. I could proceed immediately after completing all of the procedures necessary to turn over the site and its personnel to the next commander. Capt. Evans from the 642nd AC&W Squadron at Red Cliff in St. Johns got the job. The turn-over went smoothly, my farewell party was attended by many of the local civilians The troops had a great time with many toasts of farewell (I did set up the bar with a bit of the "hard stuff," and, strangely enough, more appeared through the troops, but from the civilians). This was the first and only time "hard stuff" was consumed openly on the site while I was there. It was a fine party and I was already packed. RCMP constable Parker (who attended the farewell party) had already told me he would take me to St. Johns in the RCMP vehicle the following morning. He stayed overnight at the site I believe. Capt. Evans, Sgt. Wersebe, and I saluted each other the next morning and I was on my way. If you have not experienced an isolated assignment; along with separation from your family (I had a wife and daughter), you do not wish to waste any time at this point. The people at Pepperell and the 642nd were very helpful. The rotation required an extensive base clearance procedure, especially by site commanders who were accountable for everything on their site which had to be signed over. Fortunately, (although it took all the next day) everything went smoothly, and the following day I was able to enter myself into "traffic" for the ride to the USA. Deservedly, all isolated site personnel were given top priority for aircraft space when they rotated home. You could bump almost anyone. A good friend, Capt. Clarian Robinson, with the Corps of Engineers at Pepperell had loaned me his staff car for the necessary transportation while completing the Base clearance. The Base Ops. Dispatcher informed me that there were no more aircraft leaving Pepperell AFB anymore that day for the States (it was about noon). However, he said, "there is a USAF DC-6 leaving Argentia, Nfld at 4:00 PM. If you can make it (50-60 miles) you have a seat." I called Capt. Robinson and he replied, "take the car, leave it there, I’ll pick it up, get home, & good luck." I hope he finds this and reads it. Although I did correspond with him after arriving home I was/am forever grateful. I made it to Argentia in time, took off in the dark with dense rain, fog, and wind. The first lights I saw were over Halifax, Nova Scotia. We arrived at McGuire AFB about 10:00 PM. I know it was late. I could not believe the treatment. An airman met me and said, "sir, where to you wish to go?" I replied, "Denver, Colorado," as my wife and daughter were planning to meet me there. He took me to what they called the "travel desk" ahead of everyone else and told one of the airmen there, "get the Lt to Denver." The airman at the desk said, "there is a DC-6 leaving Philidelphia at 7:00 AM tomorrow, do you want it?" Amazed as I was, I had enough sense to say "yes!" An Air Force van was ready and waiting the following morning at 5:00 AM to transport me to the Philadelphia Airport. Hats off to all the personnel at McGuire AFB for their understanding, organization, and treatment. I know it is 48 years late but, I SALUTE YOU!! I arrived at Stapleton Airport in Denver late that afternoon following stops in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, and, Kansas City. My wife and daughter were waiting at the airport. I was back. Following leave, and having our belongings picked up by the USAF contracted moving company, my family and I drove the Jacksonville, Florida where I reported for my next duty assignment.

Ren, I would really like to know the names of the USAF Capts who were the first site commanders at Fox Harbor and La Scie. Capt. Nauman was at Cape Makovic, Capt Martin at Cutthroat, Capt Isreal was another, but for the life of me I cannot recall of the first commanders at Fox Harbor & LaScie. My memory is tapped out for now. Again, thank you so much for your time and efforts in this. Our history needs and deserves to be recorded and preserved. Think about trying to convince someone in television to do a documentary for the Public Broadcasting System. This would provide a chance for more old NEAC guys to find the website and possibly contribute. All the best, Doc B----Dale M. Bunsen.